Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Female android impresses

Once again I'm teaching a class on transhumanism and robotics.

How much longer I get to do that is up for debate, but let's table that for now.

Today I showed the class Ex Machina. Naturally they were a bit disturbed by it as any sentient being should be. A few of them afterward clung to the idea that "we're nowhere near an 'Ava' level of things right now" or that "it could never really happen."

That's when I had to show the article on Jia Jia.

Jia Jia is an android in Singapore. She is one of the most human-like robots I've ever seen. Seriously. There's video of her at the link that you really need to check out. There's something very David Cronenberg about it all, yet it's fascinating to watch. Jia Jia is capable of holding a simple conversation while giving corresponding facial expressions. No one's being totally forthcoming as to what applications a Jia Jia would have, apart from the statement that "in 5-10 years there will be a lot of applications for robotics in China."

In a preliminary role, I could see such a female android acting as a concierge or desk attendant at a high end hotel. There would be a certain charm in that, especially in Asia where the large cities have always seemed like they exist somewhere twenty minutes in the future.

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I'm a writer, scholar, and researcher in the Chicago area. I have an M.A. in Writing from DePaul University. What do I write? Science fiction mostly. What do I research? Rhetoric and composition theory, all things Fortean...as well as other unpopular things.
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